The above seemingly unrelated sentiments are, in fact, not unrelated at all. Is there a maximum level of polarization a single individual can arrive at? There’s a television station in Bristol, Conn. that didn’t ask itself this question: it invented the question.

Brett Favre, wielding a ballpoint pen, put his name on a piece on a piece of paper, and now mothers, fathers, those curious as to what Howie Long was trying to say, and any solider that applies, “How did the Vikings handle that locker room discrepancy in 2009?” are directly affected. At the very least, I’m sure none of us have an issue with this.

So why dig up the past, especially in game-by-game fashion?

We fell in love with that 2009 team. Yes, even the most purple of puritans were admittedly “in like” by season’s end. The 2009 season was frontloaded with the “circus” aspect, and backloaded with a lesson that only Packers, Jets, and Vikings fans can get a grasp on.

It’s this: The labeling was incorrect, the circus was remarkable, and just about everybody bought in.

Having Brett Favre on the Vikings was an overwhelmingly positive experiment.

The collective annoyance felt throughout the country in the months leading up to his signing with the Vikings was not an original emotion. It was media-driven; a tool used by the four-letter network to paint indecisiveness as a news story. The wave had swept too far in one direction, and leaning to the person next to you to say, “I’m fed up with Brett Favre” or “Will he just retire already?” morphed into a trend.

My baseline reasoning for devoting time to a series of articles on something five years in the past is because the organization hasn’t had an upper-half-of-the-league quarterback since that season, and there’s a critically important draft coming up.

I want the circus back. The Vikings need to hit on their 8th overall selection. “The circus” could be easily defined as Johnny Manziel, but what I mean is “that of which the Vikings have not had since the 2009 season”. Dependable, efficient, and consistent play from the guy under center.

For me, “the circus” became the visible investments from fans of every type statewide. It became the amount of unique personalities on roster and the manner in which they all complemented each other. It became the maturation, and the breakout seasons happening simultaneously.